Two miles south of Lee, Massachusetts, Beartown State Forest covers 12,000 acres with a large choice of trails. The Appalachian Trail passes through the eastern side of Beartown. One paved road runs down the middle of the forest to the thirty-five acre Benedict Pond (camping and boating). The loop trail around this pond offers many viewpoints of fall color reflecting in the clear waters. The Benedict Pond loop trail 42,12.0852N  73,17.006W shares the route with the Appalachian Trail for a half-mile as it loops around the south end of the pond. Morning is best to light up the red and yellow trees reflecting in calm coves. Several wooden planks cross muddy streams at the south end of the pond. For a short distance, the Loop Trail follows the Old Beartown Road (unpaved) and then hugs the pond’s shoreline again before circling the north end of the pond. This trail takes less than an hour to walk. It took me a half-day to photograph my way around, through the autumn color.

Highway 98 crosses the bay and makes a sharp right turn down the main street of Apalachicola, Florida, a fascinating place to explore. Weathered ruins of old building are scattered among beautifully-restored examples of classic Florida coastal town architecture. Walk the three-block-long waterfront between Water Street, Commerce Street, and Market Street where Highway 98 passes through the center of town. Galleries, bookstores, and restaurants slowed me down. I still found so much to photograph that I stayed all day to explore the town and its side streets and then waited for a sunset over the bay. I found a room for the night at an Apalachicola riverside inn on Water Street with a great view over the water.

​The next day started early when I awoke to see a dense fog over the bay. I grabbed my camera bag and headed for the riverside dock where a few shrimp boats were tied up. Old fishing boats make great subjects in foggy morning light. The working boat marina can be found one mile north of town, upriver at the end of Market Street. Twenty-four boats were in the harbor where I spent several hours wandering around looking for the best locations for my tripod. I walked to the far end of the harbor where some wrecked hulls had been hauled onto the beach. There were no luxury yachts or fiberglass pleasure boats there. Working fishing boat harbor scenes are always improved by a dense fog. Exposures are more consistent no matter where you point your camera. Background distractions are lost in the mists.

On October 1 the weather forecast called for overnight rain. A load of snow was dropped down the length of the Wasatch Range. All roads were still open, even the gravel road to the Albion Basin Campground at the far end of the canyon. I stopped at some of the spots where I had photographed autumn color the previous day. Snow on dark evergreens added to the textures and made many scenes monochromatic. After walking a few hundred yards up the trail to Cecret Lake, I turned around. The trail, covered with a blanket of snow, was difficult to follow. A light snow was still falling.

I headed back to my 4Runner. Albion Basin can get up to fifty feet of snow through a winter. In less than an hour, I drove back down Little Cottonwood Canyon, headed three miles north and drove the length of Big Cottonwood Canyon to the junction with the Guardsman Pass Road. Then I headed up to the summit. A large grove (2.5 miles up the road), that had lost all its leaves a few weeks ago and looked like bare aspens yesterday, had become a ghostly forest with all bare branches outlined with ice. Distant patches of yellow aspen added touches of color to high-key monochromatic scenes.

​I walked the length of this grove four times, using all my lenses, trying to capture changes of light as a muted winter sun briefly appeared through openings in moving layers of clouds. With all my camera gear, I finally returned to a warm car. I had dressed for a fall trip to Utah and not for a winter in the Yukon.

I recently learned of a remote canyon in southern Utah with walls of red and white striped patterns and strange pillow-like formations. Hot summer weather delayed my explorations of this St. George location. Cool, dry October days have lured me back to the desert. If you are a fan of desert photography, add Yant Flat and the Candy Cliffs to your travel list. You’ll definitely want to photograph this strangely sculpted landscape.

​My newsletter #144 explores this desert landscape paved with pink hexagonal blocks decorated with orange stripes and other strange formations. You will need some help finding this place.

Heading south from Sacramento, you can follow city streets and go east on J Street to Freeport Blvd then head south to Freeport. In Freeport, you will find the bridge over the Sacramento River when you reach the golf course. Heading south on the other side of the Sacramento River, you will find no towns and few services. You will cross a few bridges over rivers and sloughs flowing into the Sacramento.

​Across the Sacramento River from the town of Courtland is an abandoned mansion sitting halfway up the levee and partially hidden by weeds and wild roses. The pillars are rotting away from the porch and all of the windows are boarded up. A weathered coat of white paint is peeling. Relics like this are not a common sight in California. Park your car on the wide shoulder, just south of the ruin, and find the best spot for your tripod.

Driving north or south on Interstate 15 you will see signs pointing out the route through Jean to the Seven Magic Mountains. The seven-mile route follows the original road from LA to Las Vegas. Visible from the freeway are seven tall stacks of very large boulders, 35-40 feet high, painted in day-glo shades of primary colors. Erected by Italian artist Ugo Rondinone in 2016, this exhibit was planned to be removed in 2018. The Bureau of Land Management has extended the removal date to the end of 2027. Close-up photos of the stone columns don’t mean much without including the surrounding expanse of desert.

I wanted to move way back with my camera to show how small and isolated these seven stone stacks really are. I found a spot for my tripod and waited for groups of tourists to get their shots. It took over an hour for all of them to leave. I didn’t want anyone in my photos. If the parking lot is filled with tour buses on a sunny day, you’ll never get a magic photo without lots of tourists with phones. Arrive here very early or very late in the day.

​The Seven Magic Mountain project cost $3.5 million in private funds. No tax money was involved. This anomaly is something different, abnormal, not easily classified and not on my list of locations I plan to photograph in the desert around Las Vegas. Leaving the Seven Magic Mountains, stay off the freeway and continue driving northeast on the frontage road, right into Las Vegas.

Most zoos open at 10:00 am, after the best morning light is gone. Arrive at the entrance before the gates open. You’ll find a better parking space, and most of the animals are more active in the morning. Summer mornings at some zoos can be foggy, providing much better lighting for photography than contrasty, mid-day lighting.

​Get your hand stamped at the gate so that you can return your heavy jacket to your car when the sun comes out. Since you’ll be walking all day, wear comfortable shoes. Wear black clothing to eliminate reflections on plexiglass enclosures. Pack a black t-shirt in the side pocket of your camera bag. This is also a must-have item for helicopter photography when you have to shoot through windows. Apply a good coat of sunscreen before you leave home – I like the 100+ SPF – more is better.

If you have not already downloaded a map of the zoo you’ll be visiting, pick up a free map of the zoo at the entrance gate. You will need it to find your way through a maze of paths and stairways connecting the Reptile Land to the African Kingdom to the Primate Compound. A map will also help you find the exit at the end of the day.

Just beyond the top of the soaring cliffs of the Na Pali coastline, is the equally incredible mountain landscape of Koke‘e. This is one of the wettest spots on earth. The large flat plateau near the summit, called the Alaka‘i Swamp, is the source of five of Kauai’s rivers. Two of them are large enough to be navigable. The Alaka‘i is the largest swamp in the Hawaiian Islands, covering almost ten square miles.

The western edge is about four thousand feet straight up on the rim of the Na Pali Cliffs. Waimea Canyon, on the southern edge of Koke‘e, is a staggering panorama of red cliffs and green foliage. Called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, the 2800-foot-deep canyon was carved by the erosive power of water flowing from this mountain over the ages. The summit of Mount Wai‘ale‘ale receives an average of over five-hundred inches of rainfall each year! Some wet years bring over fifty feet of rain. So you can probably count on getting a little damp up there, especially in the afternoon.

Over eight thousand acres in the center of the Sacramento Valley were purchased and set aside in 1930 to preserve some of these wetlands that migratory birds need to survive. The Gray Lodge State Wildlife Area is sixty miles north of Sacramento. Located just north of California’s smallest range of mountains, the Sutter Buttes, twenty miles east of the town of Colusa, and five miles west of Gridley in the central valley of California, Gray Lodge is directly in the path of nature’s interstate highway, the Pacific Flyway.

​It’s impossible to predict where the great masses of arriving birds will settle. When you arrive at the front gate, roll down your window and listen for the honks, quacking, and whistling. The noise will give you a clue as to the direction of the flocks. I usually park at the nearest of the four parking areas on the western loop road, set up my camera, attach it to the tripod, and walk the rest of the way. Follow your ears. The chorus of millions of birds can be heard for a mile. Be ready for anything to happen. The distant sound of a hunter’s shotgun can startle an entire flock into flight. The sight is breathtaking when the sky fills with thousands of large white birds.

This panel is covered with hundreds of petroglyphs chipped through the dark surface on the large inclined rock panel. Ancient designs etched onto this panel have been joined with more recent designs of men on horseback. The most recent additions are a few hundred years old. Near the top, there is an image of a large circular wheel with spokes. It looks quite modern. Hunting scenes include long horned antelope and even a bison near the edge of the panel. There are human figures, with and without ceremonial dress.

Here is a work of art you can photograph and sell without worrying about releases or copyright problems. Use a polarizer to cut through the glare reflecting from the slick surface and you will increase the contrast of your photographs. In this location, my 75-300mm zoom was very useful and allowed me to frame just the images I wanted to include.

​The turn onto the Needles Highway, State Route 211, is found between mile post 86 and 87 on Highway 191. A few miles west, at the bottom of a long steep grade, the canyon narrows along Indian Creek. On your left are some campsites and on the right side of the road is Newspaper Rock – one of the finest panels of petroglyphs you will find anywhere. It is located between mile posts 8 and 7 on Route 211.